PASADENA — Two men were hospitalized, one of them in critical condition, after being freed the wreckage of a two-car crash early Saturday, officials said.
The vehicles collided just before 2:15 a.m. in the intersection of California Boulevard and Euclid Avenue, Pasadena police Lt. Ed Calatayud said. Both cars were occupied only by drivers.
Both men became trapped in their cars following the impact, he said.
Rescuers worked for an hour and a half to free one of the drivers, a 26-year-old West Covina man, from the wreckage, according to police and Pasadena Fire Department officials. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
The other driver, a 25-year-old Los Angeles man, was freed from the mangled metal in about half an hour, officials said. He suffered serious injuries, but was hospitalized in stable condition.
The West Covina man’s vehicle was northbound on Euclid Avenue when it collided broadside with the Los Angeles man’s car, which was passing through the intersection on California Boulevard, Calatayud said. It was not immediately clear what direction the car on California Boulevard was traveling.
The cause and circumstances of the crash were being investigated by the Pasadena Police Department Traffic Section, Calatyud said.
The intersection remained closed due to the investigation for more than seven hours.

PHOTO courtesy of the Pasadena Fire Department